Lower right corner under the stairs.

Well, it's certainly underway...
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Portions of the existing house have been torn down. I'm in the process of underpinning the existing foundation so the new foundation can be 3' deeper and butt up against the existing foundation.

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It has to be done in sections so nothing collapses. 3' at a time and 6' from the nearest unsupported section.

Starting point, for reference:
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So after the rainiest July ever here (10+" of rain), we're finally pouring the last sections of underpinning. We're done slogging around in mud and pumping out the hole. The house is officially held up by my concrete. Digging out 12 yards of clay by hand has been one of the most exhausting thing I've ever done. Most of it was done with a rotary hammer with a 3" chisel bit on it. Each block, on average, is 2400 pounds of bagged concrete, mixed in the driveway then hauled down into the hole. I'll be glad to never do this again in my life.

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I remember following your project, thinking, I can do that... So you were definitely an inspiration. Then there are the moments when you think, "I took a perfectly good house and I've really messed it up. This better turn out okay."

Just yesterday I found out that my engineered joists have a lead time of 7 weeks, even though it had been 2 weeks all summer long. So I had to make a design change So I could get framing in a few weeks and not mid October.

I should have the foundation dug out to the final dimensions and the footers poured next week.

Sometimes the weather calls for about a renth of an inch and you get 1.25". Like last night.

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Next step... The Dig

64 truckloads. I had no idea how hard it is to find a site to dump the fill. I cold called every builder in the area until I had one that was close and could handle that quantity of fill. Then i had occasional people stopping by asking for loads of fill because they saw the trucks.

Excavation was $250/hr and trucking was $90/hr per truck.

Garage and the room behind it was completely ripped off of the house including the foundation. New foundation goes 3' deeper and is not under the garage, but in place of where part of the garage was. New garage is pushed forward to the limits of where i'd need a variance from the town. I do love hearing from the inspector, "We've never seen anything like this in the town."

I'm on the fence between terrified and excited. I just need to get a furnace in the basement before the snow starts flying.

Right now I'm at the mercy of the company that's pouring the foundation. I don't like the feeling where I can't accomplish anything.

Once I'm framing and things are in my control again, I'll relax a bit. I know that I can work in any weather, so nothing will prevent progress on that front. I've saved all of my vacation time so I can spend it all at once to frame it all up as fast as possible.

Neighbor is pissed. Says he's suing the town for approving an addition that's going to affect him. Nothing ever goes smoothly.

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Apparently some neighborhood covenant from '93 that says you can't have more than a two car garage. Although there are about a dozen houses with them. But according to the same covenant, you also can't have fences, sheds, pools that necessitate fences, commercial vehicles....

Likely a non issue, but still a headache.

I have footers being poured in about 13 hours, so i have some phone calls to make. Footers don't like winters that push the frostline down 36".

"why do you need a house that big?"

See... you don't own pinball machines....

I go there occasionally. But not in about a year.

It's a single floor addition only. Expanded kitchen, family room, first floor master, pantry, mud room, laundry and a shop.

Footers are in.

I have no HOA here either, but still I had looped in all of the neighbors, as to what was going on, just so there'd be no surprises when the dig happened. Showed them plans, had paint on the ground showing the extents of everything. I had to pay about a thousand for the permit from the town, but that also certified that the plans meet code for the town and state.

Those are there. See the blobs? They're poured in holes that are 36" x 36" x 8" deep, then come out of the ground another 4". There's 8 pieces of rebar in each one as well.

It's out in front of everything else. I currently have no garage.

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It's the same way here in Lancaster. You can't exceed 30% of the size of your lot. Fortunately i somehow ended up buying a house on a cul de sac that was on 2/3 acre. I could theoretically max out at 7260 sqft, but that tax bill would suck.

Still waiting on basement walls. With everyone getting paid to not work, my concrete company has only one laborer. Supposedly, I'll have some foundation walls next week.

They've been offering $19/hr with no skills to start now for weeks. $300 per week in unemployment is still plenty when you still don't have to pay rent in NY.

Same here. I think i made $5.75 and then got a raise to $6 in '99.

Finally poured the foundation yesterday. Framing starts with a load of lumber on Friday and beams should be getting ordered tomorrow.

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